


Brother, Sister (Monster, Human)

by lenainu



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Sand Siblings-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:23:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenainu/pseuds/lenainu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Slightly AU examination of the Chuunin exams from the view-point of the Suna team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a universe of death

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto. Unless I actually do, and am operating under this pseudonym to enter the world of fanfiction. Is it fanfiction if you write an AU on your own characters..? Anyway, disclaimer here because I can't be bothered to add it to all the other chapters.
> 
> Re-write of a fic I wrote on fanfiction.net under the name: charmablackhole. Exploring questions of sanity and family.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting off from Suna and an Introduction to the Sand Siblings.

The shinobi love to play with fire, and yet are surprised every time they get burnt. But to be truthful, Gaara was never fire - the metaphor was only superficial - Gaara was the ice and the night and moon-madness. He wasn’t born like that, of course. No one is born fully formed, instead of a combination of want and need and screams. Gaara became what he was because the people around him assumed they were dealing with an adult. He had to be an adult, didn’t he, because he had already killed. So they pushed him to the limit and when the limit broke, they realized that he was a child. Was a child, but now he was a monster.

  
Gaara didn’t even hate the rest of the world. That would be manageable and an admittedly human response. Gaara simply wanted to kill the rest of the world. He disguised it under layers of _proving himself_ and _being the strongest_ and _loving only himself_ \- which was the most ridiculous lie of them all, because love required humanity and Gaara knew he was a monster - because even outside of society, he did understand some of its rules. If the Kazekage realized that Shukaku and Gaara shared a lot more than a body, Gaara suspected other powers would come into play. Gaara always survived the assassination attempts of his own countrymen but he was not so stupid to believe that no one was strong enough to kill him. There were other jinchuuriki, other kages, other legends.

  
He imagines Suna burning, when he’s out in the desert.

  
He imagines dying and tries to remember what pain feels like from the couple of fuzzy memories he has.

  
He doesn’t tell the Kazekage that the seal had been too weak for a long time and that its only Shukaku’s amusement that’s keeping him locked in. That the Kazekage should be as afraid of him awake as asleep.

 

* * *

 

The night before, Gaara accidentally murdered one of his watchers who moved too close into his range. The morning of the mission, the Kazekage called him in before the rest of the team. It was early. Gaara didn’t care, since early is a relative term attached only to sleep. His father told him to behave himself on the mission, which amused Gaara slightly. Like the Kazekage trying to play at being a parent, only at the times it suits him. Gaara replied by asking how many people he’ll get to kill, and the mask of hatred slipped over the Kazekage’s face again. Gaara preferred it to the vaguely-condescending parental one. The Kazekage called in the rest of the team and they entered, flinching when they notice Gaara standing there already. Well, Baki didn’t flinch but that’s only because he was trained not to.

  
Shukaku told him that they’re all afraid of them, however they react, and that he’s alone, always alone. Except Mother, of course. Gaara smiled at the demon - on the inside, of course, everyone would die on the spot if he smiled on the outside - and told Shukaku to say something he didn’t already know.

  
The Kazekage gave Baki the scroll and some extra instructions that Gaara didn’t bother listening to. They were probably about controlling him, anyway, and Baki couldn’t control him. So that was that. He had wondered initially why the Kazekage was even allowing him out of his site, but realized it was probably the state of Suna. It was a dying village, that didn’t start out well to begin with. Gaara was at home with the sands but most people weren’t, and the water supply was always a problem. So the Kazekage had decided to send his strongest to garner more support. Gaara had thought about refusing but they were playing a game, the two of them. Gaara let the Kazekage have the semblance of control. In truth, not even Gaara had control.

  
They set off to Konoha. They were supposed to travel in the traditional diamond formation of genin teams, but neither Temari or Kankuro wanted to be anywhere near Gaara. Which is how Gaara was the first one to come across the other team.

  
When the rest of his team arrived, there was blood and splintered bone on the ground. Lots of blood. Gaara’s technique was showy like that. Baki picked up a headband out of the mess. “Kumo.” He said. “Looked like they were going to the Chuunin exam as well.” He added, examining a scroll from the packs of one of the slaughtered.

“Well, less competition then!” Temari said.

Baki looked like he would sigh, if he was the kind of man that showed his emotions. Instead, he said; “We’re moving on. I doubt they have anything of use.”

“Not any-more,” Kankuro muttered to Temari. “They’re too destroyed to even be used as puppets.”

Temari rolled her eyes at him, which allowed her to look away from the bodies. “I was thinking they might have intel, but sure, make puppets out of everything we pass. I think I saw an earthworm over there.”

“At least I don’t go around wearing a fucking fan.” Kankuro retorted.

Kankuro was going to pay for that, Temari thought. Maybe she would get to fight him in the Exams and destroy all his creepy puppets. She looked up. Gaara was far ahead now.

“Seriously, idiot, we aren’t even at war with Kumo,” she said. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to seeing trails of blood wherever Gaara went. She had just thought they would have a bit of reprieve before they reached Konoha. Kankuro shrugged.

“Good thing we’re not responsible for his messes, then.” He replied.

Baki had been listening in, of course, and signaled for them to hurry up. Because he _was_ one of those responsible for dealing with the repercussions of Gaara’s killing sprees, and he wished he had never been assigned to the team.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from:  
> “A universe of death, which God by curse  
> Created evil, for evil only good,  
> Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,  
> Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,  
> Abominable, inutterable, and worse...”  
> (Paradise Lost, Book II, lines 621-626)


	2. and some are fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaara tries to scare people to death. It's not as effective as it is in Suna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly from Kankuro's point of view, because it refused to be written away other way. Also, I have a problem staying in the past tense (rather than the present) so if you notice any mistakes, a heads-up would be great.

 

Somehow, they managed to reach Konoha without killing anyone else. Basically because they didn’t meet any one else, to Temari’s relief. Kankuro wasn’t so happy about it, as he held the theory that the longer Gaara went without killing someone, the more likely he was to kill them. Neither of them know how Gaara is going to manage not killing anyone before the exams start - because Konoha definitely won’t accept his crimes the way the Kazekage does.

  
Baki showed their papers to the gate-keeper. He looked through them carefully, then signaled for the gate to be opened. Kankuro found the system stupid. They would have to open and close the gate all day long. Suna didn’t do that, but then Suna possibly had an advantage there - it was a lot harder to find a village in the desert than in a forest. Anyone who made it to Suna’s gate probably deserved to come in, and if they were a threat, they would be noticed a long time before, on the low sand dunes. Meanwhile, Gaara was doing his death-stare, as Kankuro had named it a long time ago. Sure enough, the guard stiffened, a hand automatically slipping down to his side. Temari and Kankuro took a few steps back and hoped the fucking gate would open soon. Then the guard opened his mouth and said; “Control that killing intent, kid. It’s a friendly competition.”

No one ever called Gaara a kid. There were other names like monster and demon, but not kid. Once you’d seen Gaara kill, any association with childhood went out the window. Konoha ninja were stupid, Kankuro decided. The gate opened, but Gaara was still staring at the guard. Kankuro glanced at Temari and she shook her head firmly. Damn, it was his turn again then.

  
“Come on, Gaara.” He said tentatively.

  
Gaara completely ignored him. Which was positive and negative at the same time. Positive that he hadn’t cared enough to kill Kankuro. Negative that he was going to kill the guard.

  
“What’s your name?” Gaara asked. The guard paused for a moment before answering, which Kankuro gave him a point for. He still answered though, which meant he lost that point.

  
“Shiranui Genma.”

  
“Come on!” Kankuro insisted and ignored Shiranui’s raised eyebrow. It was like the guy had a death wish. Gaara glared at Kankuro instead. Geez, the danger he put himself in for random Konoha idiots. But they got through the gate and it closed behind them. “Do you have to scare everyone, Gaara?” Kankuro asked, but Gaara was ignoring him again.

“He wasn’t that scared.” Temari said.

“What? Of course he was, it’s Gaara!”

“People don’t know who Gaara is, here.” Temari replied. How great that would be, Kankuro thought. To not have to worry about him losing it every minute of the day. Konoha didn’t know how lucky it was.

“He was ANBU,” Baki said.

“What?” Kankuro said, caught up in his day-dream of a world where he wasn’t scared shit-less of his little brother.

“We’ve met before. In the last war.”

“So he’s used to fighting scary people like Gaara.” Temari said, catching on before Kankuro did. Then; “Why is he on guard duty?” Baki looked at the two of them blankly, obviously expecting them to figure it out themselves. It took Kankuro a few more seconds to understand. Of course, security was up because of the exams - which meant more people would be trying to slip in - so they needed someone more experienced on gate duty, in case anything turned lethal.

“Still suspicious though.” Kankuro said. Temari nodded. 

“This could be a problem.” She said.

“Whatever,” Kankuro replied, though he knew what she meant. They had only met one person in Konoha so far and he was already on Gaara’s kill list. Well, everyone was technically on Gaara’s kill list. Near the top of Gaara’s kill list, then. How were they even going to complete their mission, if Gaara got lose and raised suspicion by murdering someone in Konoha? “Hey Gaara!” he shouted. Gaara turned. “Leave him alone for now, okay?” Unsurprisingly, the sand started to seep out of the gourd and move towards Kankuro. Kankuro was tempted to run for his life, but that would never work. “Okay, I’m sorry I mentioned it.” He said quickly, instead. “Do whatever you want.” The sand uncoiled from Kankuro’s wrist, slipped down to the ground again. Kankuro let out a breath, before Temari smacked him on the back of the head.

“Idiot.” She hissed.

“You know, some people actually have team-mates who aren’t violent.” Kankuro said, half-joking. It falls flat, of course. Because even though he was referring to her, Gaara is not something you can joke about.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from:  
> “And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,  
> And so from heaven to deepest hell; O fall  
> From what high state of bliss into what woe!”  
> (Paradise Lost, Book V, lines 541-543)


	3. in adamantine chains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The encounter with Team 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is slightly AU, mainly because I had read too many Chuunin exam fics that followed the exact same paths and I didn't want to put anyone else through that. Written mainly from Temari's point of view, though Kankuro slipped in at times. Reviews are welcome!

 

The next day, they decided to explore the village. Baki was busy with his own things and Temari and Kankuro wanted to be tourists. Well, not really. Gaara had decided to go find people to kill and the other two had to tag along to prevent it. Kankuro was bored. He refused to admire the village - that was the kind of thing civilians did, not ninja. He and Temari played spot the ANBU for a while, but there were only so many of that, so that ended quickly. So Kankuro was bored. They had lost sight of Gaara, but that didn’t matter. Gaara did, strangely enough, warn others of their imminent death. Kankuro and Temari were good at noticing when his chakra surged, and could get to him in time. In time, if he could be stopped anyway. If he couldn’t be stopped then it wasn’t their problem.

Temari lingered as they passed a weapon shop, so Kankuro told her to check it out. She shook her head.

“No. I’ll end up buying something and they don’t need our money.” Temari said. Konoha was a lot richer than Suna, for various reasons, even though Suna ninja were obviously the best in the world. It wasn’t fair.

“Steal something then.” Kankuro joked, and Temari glared at him.

“You get dumber every day.” She said. Kankuro shrugged it off. If siblings couldn’t insult each other, the world would probably end. Except of course, that other sibling.

“I’m bored,” he moaned, stretching out the ‘o’ into _booooored_. “There’s nothing to do in this shit-hole. I don’t even have my workshop.”

“Suck it up.” Temari said. “We can go and spar when Gaara’s not loose.”

Kankuro knew that Temari was as bored as he was. She was just trying to do the bitchy older sister act. Oh wait, she was the bitchy older sister. But her comment reminded him-

“Imagine if Gaara had been old enough to fight in the war.” He said. Gaara had been born after the war ended, Temari in those blood-stained years.

Temari smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “Then we might have won.” She said. Kankuro was grinning back when something collided with him. He had seen the kid coming - he wasn’t stupid enough to ignore his surroundings - but he counted on the kid being intelligent enough to avoid running into him. Tch, why was he expecting the people of Konoha to be intelligent?

He snarled at the kid, grabbing him by his scarf. Then when the group of kids came round the corner and demanded Kankuro let the kid go, Kankuro decided that though they couldn’t be clever, they could at least be amusing. Pathetically amusing, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. One of the kids - huh, actually a genin - ran at him directly. So he was kind of asking Kankuro to trip him up. One of the other genin asked what right they had to be in Konoha. Kankuro let Temari deal with that, because the other genin was still trying to attack him.

Temari was very good at evasions. Kankuro _knew_ she had been bored as well; now she was having fun. The genins got all frustrated when they couldn’t understand what she meant. She got her fan out when they started to attack her. She was scowling but that didn’t bother Kankuro one bit. He wondered if he could get her to pay for lunch later.

Then Gaara’s suffocating chakra flashed up. Kankuro didn’t flinch because if he did, Temari would mock him for it later. It was a close thing though. He looked over to where Gaara was, standing upside down from a tree branch. It didn’t make him look any less menacing.

“Let him go.” Gaara said. Kankuro dropped the kid like he’d been burnt. Temari folded her fan up, watching Gaara out of the corner of her eye.

“We’re here for the Chuunin exams,” she admitted, flashing the papers impatiently at the genins. Gaara was staring at her. “We’re sorry for our actions, if they caused offence,” she added, the words surprisingly easy to say though she wasn’t sorry at all. Fear made many things easier, she had realized a long time ago. She wasn’t sorry because the genins were weak. Not strong enough to even challenge her or Temari. Gaara would smear them on the road, literally, in splatters of flesh and bone and blood. And Temari knew that the weak deserved whatever they got. Not civilians, perhaps, because they didn’t even get a chance. Not these were genin - they were given the chance to be stronger and they had not worked hard enough.

Even through their stupidity, the genin noticed that something was wrong. Well, the dark-haired one - whom Temari had to admit was pretty good-looking - noticed. The orange one was still ranting on about something - with a disturbing lack of reaction to Gaara’s presence, now she thought about it - and the girl just looked confused. Temari decided she hated her. It was the fault of girls like her that real kunoichi had to fight so hard against the stereotypes.

But she was getting distracted now and watching Gaara was the most important thing. Gaara hasn’t even noticed the girl. He was standing still in that eerie way he had, his gaze resting on the dark-haired boy.

One more victim on the list.

“Are you entering?” Gaara asked the boy.

The orange one interrupted. “Of course we are! We have to protect the village from him!” he shouted, pointing at Kankuro. The girl pushed the orange boy angrily, which Temari approved of, although it seemed to have no effect. Idiot. Because now Gaara had turned his gaze onto the orange one. Then his eyes widened. He blinked. It wouldn’t look like anything to outsiders, but Temari could write a book on Gaara’s almost invisible expressions. Gaara was surprised.

By an orange idiot.

Temari tried to remember what the idiot’s name was. He had said it at some point, but she hadn’t really been listening. But now, it looked like he was a special kind of idiot. Kankuro had noticed as well and broke off his glaring at the smallest brat to glance anxiously at Temari. Temari formed the hand signal for _wait_ against the side of her leg. She rarely got to see Gaara surprised. And surprise wasn’t murderous.

“You’re like me.” Gaara said.

“What’re you talking about?” the orange boy demanded. “I’m Konoha and you’re Suna, you’ve got evil team-mates and I’ve got Sasuke and Sakura-” Ah, Temari thought, that’s Uzumaki Naruto then. She remembered reading about him and his team because he was the son of the Yondaime. Even she had to respect the legend of the Yellow Flash. And that also meant the dark-haired boy was the survivor of the Uchiha massacre. She didn’t respect that. It was the kind of cock-up that Konoha seemed good at, and that wouldn’t have been allowed to happen in Suna. The Kazekage would have never tolerated any disobedience or dissent in the first place.

“No. We’re the same.” Gaara continued, walking forwards. The orange boy looked confused enough to shut up, thank kami. “I look forwards to fighting you.” Then Gaara disappeared in his special sand body flicker. Temari and Kankuro both breathed small sighs of relief. It looked like Gaara would follow the rules after all. The orange boy turned to Kankuro and shouted - he always seemed to be shouting, Temari noticed;

  
“What was that about?”

Kankuro narrowed his eyes, obviously trying to see to see what interested Gaara so much. He didn’t find it. This was someone he had managed to trip over and who telegraphed all his attacks with shouts of victory.

  
“No idea. But if he wants to fight you, you’re screwed. You should withdraw from the exams now.” Kankuro replied. Not that withdrawing from the exam would actually help the orange boy. Gaara would still find him later. Kankuro was just trying to give the kid a bit of hope.

  
“I’m not scared of him!” the boy shouted. Again. Temari decided that he didn’t deserve their advice, even though she generally took the side of Gaara’s victims.

  
“You should be.” She snapped at him. She was tired of this. A fight would satisfy her, but not with these idiots. Maybe she could spar with Kankuro, now it looked like they could trust Gaara to only threaten, and not kill, people.

  
“Who is he?” the Uchiha asked. Temari wanted to smile for him, but it wasn’t the time. Gaara ruined everything.

  
“Sabaku no Gaara,” She said. “Our brother.” Then she body-flickered away, not bothering to wait for Kankuro. He didn’t deserve it when he had drawn Gaara’s attention in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from:  
> “Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky  
> With hideous ruin and combustion down  
> To bottomless perdition, there to dwell  
> In adamantine chains and penal fire”  
> (Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 45-48)


	4. shun the bitter consequence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little interlude of the days leading up to the exams.

The next few days, Temari and Kankuro got spent most of the time sparring with each other. Gaara didn’t join in. They didn’t ask him to. If he had, they would have been seriously worried. Worried and wounded, probably. Team practices for the Sand Siblings meant Temari and Kankuro, with Gaara watching occasionally. There was a reason for it. All his attacks were lethal. Despite this, Baki had tried several times to get Gaara to _join in_ , because he believed no one was good enough to stop practicing. Then Gaara had killed a couple of watchers for ‘practice’ and Baki decided to stop trying.

They didn’t want to be injured just before the exams, as well. Even though the exams were a bit of a joke for them, neither Kankuro nor Temari liked being beaten. Supposedly, Gaara wouldn’t either. They didn’t know.

When Temari felt like indulging her imagination - which wasn’t often - she wondered what it would be like to have a normal little brother. It was bizarre picturing Gaara as anything but the force of destruction that he was. Most of the time she tried to follow the rules of survival around Gaara instead, rather than resorting to fantasies. The rules like don’t argue with him. Don’t mention you’re family. Never mention mother or uncle. Don’t annoy him.

A lot of things seemed to annoy Gaara, that was the problem. Kankuro annoyed Gaara most often. Temari tried to hide away and not speak too much, though if chaffed against her personality. She wasn’t the type to let others boss her around. However, it was worth it. She didn’t get her arm broken, like Kankuro. She didn’t get trapped in a tomb of sand for a whole week, like Kankuro.

Gaara was also very unaware of the difference between defeating an opponent and killing them. Temari guessed Kankuro was still alive because Gaara had never felt the need to defeat him, disgusted as he seemed at the both of them. Which meant Gaara’s exams were going to be filled with blood and the strange orange boy would die.  
On one of the days, Temari and Kankuro decided to do some research on the orange brat. They could have asked Gaara what he meant by the ‘we’re the same’ comment but - Nah, they weren’t that stupid. Gaara wouldn’t answer. So they did field work instead. Temari quickly discovered he was well known. She assumed it was because of his parentage to start with but quickly realized that everyone thought he was just another Kyuubi orphan. Konoha must have known, for it to be in Suna’s files, but they hadn’t decided to spread it. Which was strange.

No, he was well-known for other reasons. Temari got the idea he was some sort of prankster - apparently he had painted the Hokage monuments once. Which seemed really wrong to her. It would never happen in Suna. Not because they didn’t have monuments, but because power meant respect. Maybe not in Konoha.

In Konoha, most of the civilians hated Naruto Uzumaki, even though the kid couldn’t have done that much yet. Especially not to civilians. That wasn’t allowed. Civilians were generally held apart from the ninja world - protected but not included. But the civilians hated the orange boy.

“They hate him, but they’re not afraid of him.” Kankuro said, as they left a clothes shop where the owner insisted he would never sell his wares to the kid. Kankuro said they looked crap anyway and Temari had to drag him out of the shop.

“Why would they be afraid of him?” Temari asked. “Even you managed to trip him up.”

Kankuro managed to look affronted for a moment before falling into seriousness again. He shrugged. “Because Gaara’s interested in fighting him. That means he has to be stronger than us, at least.”

“But he’s not.” Temari said. “What, do you think he’s hiding a secret talent somewhere?” She can’t imagine the orange boy hiding something. He showed emotions too clearly on his face, spoke too honestly. But- “They’re both hated.” She said. “Gaara and Naruto. That’s what they have in common.”

“We’re the same.” Kankuro muttered. “But Gaara wouldn’t know that, and he definitely wouldn’t care.”

“Argh, it has be to something.” Temari said. Not understanding things annoyed her immensely. A secret and hatred then… Oh.

“There’s more than one of them.” She said, after checking that no one was nearby.

“Fuck.” Kankuro said.

“Yep.”

“Why is he so weak then?” Kankuro asked.

“He’s obviously not.” Temari said. “I’m more worried about what this means.” _To the mission,_ she added silently. The Kazekage had to know, if they had figured it out so quickly. But then was Gaara less of a trump card if there was another jinchuuriki to oppose him?

They walked back to their lodgings in silence, until Temari asked;

“Why aren’t they afraid?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from:  
> “Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,  
> And shun the bitter consequence: for know,  
> The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole command  
> Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die…”  
> (Paradise Lost, Book VIII, lines 327-330)


	5. to stuff this maw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Temari's point of view. The written test and the Forest of Death.

The first part of the exam was stupidly easy, a test in information gathering. Temari spent most of it watching Kankuro try - and fail, the idiot - to sabotage everyone else’s efforts. The end of it, with the dramatic - choose the last question or leave - was about as uninteresting. Temari has never backed down from a challenge in her life - she had to learn not to, as a kunoichi in a man’s world - so she didn’t even consider backing down then. Gaara didn’t care either way, as far as Temari could tell. In fact, he looked dangerously bored.

“He’s got a free pass now,” Temari said to Kankuro after the proctors had explained the whole ‘Forest of Death’ thing.

“Bit stupid of Konoha, isn’t it?” Kankuro replied. 

They had passed through the forests to get to Konoha and because of that, Temari was skeptical whether this particular forest deserved such a dramatic name. There was water and food in the forest, which was much more than you could find in the desert. And it was easier to navigate. And you didn’t have to wait until night to run. Temari decided that Konoha ninja must be sissies, if this was their worse training ground. 

“Do you think he’ll go after the orange kid?” Temari asked. They were outside of Gaara’s hearing, of course. She had checked. 

“I hope so.” Kankuro said, scowling. “Watching him being _patient_ is creepy.”

Temari snorted. “Like he isn’t creepy the rest of the time.”

Kankuro shrugged. “Yeah, but at least he’s more predictable.”

Their team got an earth scroll to begin with. They somehow managed to not meet anyone else on the first day. Temari guessed all the others had run to safety - or as safe as giant worms and spiders could be - to plan tactics. She was irritated. Her fan wasn’t suited for the forest - less space to manipulate the wind than on the open sands - and she took that as a personal insult from Konoha. More importantly, Gaara was irritable, because not meeting anyone also meant not killing anyone. Temari and Kankuro had a bet on the number of people Gaara would kill in the exam. Temari was winning at the moment, but she wasn’t happy about it at all. So on the second day, they started actively looking for others rather than only aiming for the exit. Gaara’s sand was creeping further out in every hour that passed, so when they ran across a team of Ame genin, Temari was very relieved. She felt slightly sorry for them. Then they started on the whole threatening rigmarole and Temari decided they deserved to die; ninja didn’t waste time talking. Giving away information, instead of collecting it. Amateurs. Gaara was the complete opposite, of course, not been bothering to ask what type of scroll they had. But by then, Temari didn’t care about the type of scroll. She knew Gaara wanted blood and that was what mattered, for her own survival. 

The Ame team managed to somehow avoid the curling sand when it attacks them the first time. They looked slightly affronted - probably at Gaara breaking up the monologue - but aren’t so unprofessional as to try to continue talking. 

The first one used a jutsu which created a literal rain of knives out of a couple of kunai. It looked useful for enclosed spaces, but unfortunately, he was facing Temari. She sent the knives thudding into the trees, away from her and Kankuro. She didn’t bother helping Gaara with it. His sand would always protect him. Meanwhile, the second one was flashing through a complex range of hand-signs. Temari expected a kind of explosion, but instead a kind of vapour crept through the air towards them. She tried to dispel it with her fan, but it remains, slowly moving towards them. It looked like a type of air-borne poison to Temari. A slow attack that would probably be useful in an indirect fight, but unfortunately for him, this fight was going to be very quickly. All the same, she stepped back to stay out to range of the vapour. Kankuro started to unwrap his puppet, since it was unlikely to be affected by the poison.

It wasn’t a battle, it was slaughter. Gaara broke the legs of one of the genin and he collapsed to the ground, still breathing but probably wishing he wasn’t. The next genin was encased in sand and imploded. The blood splattered on the trees and the vapour dropped to the ground, robbed of the chakra that fueled it. Temari wiped off a large splatter on her arm. Kankuro was speckled with it but he didn’t seem bothered. Temari thought he was probably right; it was someone else’s blood, after all, and therefore unimportant. But she hated the feeling of blood drying on her skin. She also thought she was scary enough without going overboard by walking around in old blood like Kankuro.

None of the blood touched Gaara.

The last genin was backing off, holding the scroll in front of him. Meat, Temari thought. Nothing but meat now.

“Take it! Just let me go.” The genin said.

Temari noticed happily that it was a heaven scroll. The happiness was submerged slightly at the sight of Gaara _absentmindedly_ crushing the arms of the genin with the broken legs (she did know their names - she knew the names of everyone in the exam - but she couldn’t think of it now). Gaara was watching the last one standing, white with fear. Then the sand surged forwards and smashed him into a tree.

The first time Temari saw Gaara murder someone, she heard the _crack_ of bone breaking distinctly. Loud, clear. This time she could also hear the birds chattering in the trees and the echo of the tree and Kankuro’s chuckle, next to her. Then he wrapped up his puppet again and walked over to pick up the scroll carefully from the still body. Temari kept an eye on Gaara, who had turned back to the broken one now he was the last one alive. The sand swarmed over his face and Temari watched as the genin thrashed, trying to breathe. She didn’t even consider stopping Gaara - stepping in front of him now would only result in her own death. She liked being alive.

Then she heard a sound; half a gasp, half a shout, cut-off. Gaara heard it as well and the last genin shivered and stopped moving. Kankuro stopped talking - Temari had only been half-listening to him lacking some smart-ass comment about the lack of blood. 

Gaara walked towards the bushes, his sand snaking in front of him. Temari could sense them now, another team of genin. The glint of sunlight on a headband told her their allegiance; Konoha.

“Gaara,” she said. “Stop. We’ve got both the scrolls.”

Kankuro looked at her like she had gone mad. Which she hadn’t. The thing is, no one would care much about the slaughter of the Ame team. Konoha would take notice if Gaara slaughtered their own, despite the rules about fairness and equality. And they couldn’t afford more attention now. It would jeopardize the mission. The problem was, she couldn’t say that aloud. She had suspicions that they had watchers already - that every team in the forest did. No, she was lying to herself. She knew that even if she could safely explain the situation to Gaara, he wouldn’t listen. Not after a kill.

To the utter surprise of no one, Gaara ignored her completely. Kankuro seemed to catch on, though.

“Come on!” he shouted. “We don’t need those weaklings.”

Gaara didn’t stop. Kankuro glanced at Temari, questionably. Pleadingly. Temari listened to the frightened shouts of the Konoha genin. Weighed up the risks. Wished the genin would just fall dead on the spot. Wished that they weren’t stupid enough to hang around in the first place. Figured out how long it would take for them to get out of Gaara’s range. Then, a second later, Temari shook her head. 

She really was going to have to pay for lunch when they got back to Konoha.

Kankuro scowled at her, then grabbed Gaara’s shoulder.

“Control yourself!” he said. “Let them go.”

Temari watched as the sand crept around Kankuro’s hand. She counted the seconds; the other team was still too close. 

“It’s not worth it. Save your strength for later, we need to finish this part of the exam now.”

They both know killing the other team wouldn’t be difficult for Gaara. Which was probably why Gaara ignored Kankuro’s reasoning completely.

“I’ll kill you.” Gaara said. Not do you want to die or you’ll die. I’ll kill you; direct and brutal. Temari signaled leave to Kankuro. The other team was far enough away now. She didn’t want to endanger him any further - _Crack!_ \- like that. Gaara had broken one of Kankuro’s fingers with the sand. 

“Fuck!” Kankuro shouted, his face pale. “Can’t you just listen to your older brother for once?”

_Crack!_ Another finger broken. Temari didn’t know Kankuro was such a sucker for punishment. What the hell was he doing it for?

“I never considered you as my brother.” Gaara said. Temari noticed a sort of - sadness, perhaps? - on Kankuro’s face, through the layer of pain. Weird.

“Stop it, Kankuro.” Temari said, because he was ignoring her signing. “They’re gone.”

“Gladly.” Kankuro spat out, cradling his injured hand against his chest. Gaara was looking at both of them though, and Temari had more important things to do them comfort Kankuro. Gaara had lost his prey and now he was looking at them. 

“Look, Gaara.” Temari said. “This is pointless. We have to appear as a team, even if you hate both of us, for the exam.” She didn’t mean the exam, but again, she also didn’t trust that they were alone. “Take it out on the orange boy later if you want, not us.”

The way Gaara’s eyes lit up at the mention shows her that she has hit the right note. Mentioning the orange boy, that is. She wondered why she had added in the part about appearing as a team. She knew that Gaara fought his own battles and protected only himself. 

They found the exit that evening, with no other problems. They didn’t talk on the way there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from:  
> “To me, who with eternal famine pine,  
> Alike is hell, or Paradise, or heaven,  
> There best, where most with ravin I may meet;  
> Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems  
> To stuff this maw, this vast unhide-bound corpse.”  
> (Paradise Lost, Book X, lines 597-601)


End file.
